Overseas investment decision for case 200710061 - Kupe Joint Venture

To acquire:

1. an interest in land which, either alone or together with any associated land of that type, is or includes non-urban land and exceeds 5 hectares in area; and
2. an interest in land which, either alone or together with any associated land, exceeds 0.4 hectares and adjoins land held for conservation purposes under the Conservation Act 1987 (if that conservation land exceeds 0.4 hectares in area); and
3. an interest in land which, either alone or together with any associated land, exceeds 0.4 hectares and adjoins land over 0.4 hectares that includes a historic place, historic area, wahi tapu, or wahi tapu area that is registered or for which there is an application or proposal for registration under the Historic Places Act 1993; and
4. an interest in land which, either alone or together with any associated land, exceeds 0.4 hectares and adjoins land that exceeds 0.4 hectares that is an esplanade reserve, esplanade strip, recreation reserve, a road or a Māori reservation, that adjoins the sea or a lake.

The application has been approved as it met the criteria.

The Overseas Investment Office is satisfied that the individuals with control of the Applicant collectively have business experience and acumen relevant to the overseas investment, and that the Applicant has demonstrated financial commitment towards the overseas investment. The Overseas Investment Office is further satisfied that each individual that exercises control over the Applicant is of good character and is not an individual of the kind referred to in section 7(1) of the Immigration Act 1987.

The Kupe Joint Venture was formed to carry out exploration for, and development and production of, petroleum within the area specified by Petroleum Mining Licence (PML) 38146 which includes the Kupe gas field, situated 30 kilometres off the South Taranaki coast. Development and production is now the primary focus of the Kupe Joint Venture. The development is known as the Kupe Gas Project.

New Zealand's demand for gas has been met primarily by the Maui gas field for the past 25 years. The Kupe field was discovered in 1986 but has remained undeveloped largely due to the abundant gas flowing from Maui making the development of Kupe uneconomic. However, with the redetermination of the Maui gas reserves and the rapid increase in domestic gas demand for electricity generation, the development of the gas field is now both economical and vital in meeting New Zealand's energy needs.

On 30 August 2006, the Kupe Joint Venture was granted consent (A200620026/D200620036) to acquire 123.7327 hectares of land situated at Inaha Road, RD11, Hawera to conduct and operate a gas production station (Production Station) to convert the petroleum recovered from the Kupe gas field into its usable forms - natural gas, condensate and liquified petroleum gas (LPG). That investment involved the acquisition of 30.6549 hectares from Edward Michael Bourke (Bourke) and the acquisition of 93.0778 hectares from Wayne Ernest and Glenda May Scott (Scott). The Production Station required approximately 20 hectares of land and was to be constructed on the land acquired from Bourke. The Kupe Joint Venture on-sold the Scott land to Mr Bourke to enable Mr Bourke to continue his dairy farming business.

Due to a change in the design of the Production Station, the Kupe Joint Venture now proposes to acquire the subject land from Mr Bourke. The land proposed to be acquired by the Kupe Joint Venture includes land that was always held by Mr Bourke, in addition to the land that was acquired by the Kupe Joint Venture from the Scotts and on-sold to Bourke.

Part of the land proposed to be acquired is required for the construction and operation of the Production Station. In addition, the change in design and the increasing size of the Production Station makes it desirable to increase the buffer zone surrounding the Production Station.

The proposal is likely to result in the following benefits:

1. the creation of new job opportunities in New Zealand;
2. enhanced domestic services through an increased security of gas supply; and
3. the introduction into New Zealand of additional investment for development purposes.